EIB to provide 2 bln euros to Polish state fund for supporting refugees from Ukraine

MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to provide 2 billion euros to finance an assistance fund set up by the Polish government to help refugees from Ukraine and managed by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), the Polish state development bank.

Ukrainian media have reported with reference to the EIB website that the financing is supposed to support investment in social infrastructure and facilitate access to housing and transport, and most of this funding should be distributed among less developed regions.

The EIB said this is the first among the sub-projects under the 4-billion-euro Solidarity Package for Ukraine approved on May 18 to finance investments in EU member states incurring particularly high costs due to the events in Ukraine.

According to the Polish border authority, as many as 4.067 million people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland and 2.091 million from Poland into Ukraine since February 24.

Out of the nearly 2 million people from Ukraine currently staying in Poland, 1.152 million people have been registered to be granted temporary protection status, according to UN data collected from national governments.